airports // 5sos au

xvi.

| ashton |

Meghan and I take our time grocery shopping. I walk next to the cart while Meghan stands on the bar just above the bottom wheels, allowing her momentum to push the cart forward. Every once and a while I stop the cart so I can put a large back of sugar, flour, salt, etc. into it.

"I'm sure Tom would've already been done by now," I laugh.

"Probably because he didn't have someone as great as I am to go with," Meghan's giggle immediately makes me smile.

"Very true," I nod.

"How many more ingredients do we still need?" She asks as I stop the cart.

"We're almost done," I say as I use both arms to place a large bag of cocoa powder into the shopping cart.

She nods and continues to ride on the cart alongside me. I keep a hand on the side of the cart when Meghan laughs, "You know, if you close your eyes it kind of feels like you're flying."

I let go for a split second to grab a tub of vegetable oil, then when I turn back I see Meghan with her eyes closed and her cart headed straight for a display of brown sugar.

"Look out!" I rush and instinctively grab Meghan. She opens her eyes and lets go of the cart at the lest second. Fortunately, the bags of brown sugar are huge so the cart bumps into it and is sent backwards.

"Oops," Meghan breathes, "Thank you." My cheeks heat up when I realize that we're still just standing there, my arms wrapped protectively around Meghan's waist and lifting her a few inches above the floor.

"No problem," I can't seem to stop blushing as I set her down, "Its really not that big of a deal."

"Ashton, I might've died from that awful accident," She tries to remain serious but fails as a big smile graces her face. I grin down at her and we both seem to be unaware of how close we're standing.

She laughs and steps away to pick up the tub of vegetable oil that I dropped mid-heroic effort. We then walk to the cart and push it away from the crime scene. We try to stifle our laughter in an attempt to direct attention away from ourselves. The cart didn't do any damage anyways, so technically, we didn't do anything wrong.

"Why are we trying to act subtlety? It's almost ten o'clock on a Friday night in a restaurant ingredient supply store, who would've seen us almost wreck that display?" I lean down and whisper to Meghan.

"You're the one whispering," She whispers and smirks up at me as she continues to push the cart. I can't keep myself from grinning as I roll my eyes.

"What's next on the list?" She asks after a few moments of walking in a comfortable silence.

"Apparently, we need some kind of special imported brand of butterscotch," I say as I read off the list.

"Fancy," Meghan chuckles.

"I don't remember seeing butterscotch on any of the aisles," I trail off as I look around.

"Why don't we go and ask someone?"

"Good idea, c'mon," I say. We leave the cart at the end of the aisle we're standing at and walk towards the front of the store in hopes of finding an employee.

"Sir? Can you help us?" I ask the first employee I see.

"Sure," He shrugs.

"Do you know where the butterscotch is?" Meghan asks, "Specifically the imported kind?"

"Aisle twenty-eight," He says and points to the back corner of the large store.

"Thank you," I grin and we begin to walk towards the back.

"This store is so big," Meghan says quietly. I smile down at her as she looks around.

"Hey Meghan," I say as we continue walking.

"Hey Ashton," She mimics me.

"Can I have a picture of you so I can show my friends that angels truly exist?"

"Oh, lord," She bursts out laughing. I smile at her huge grin. She struggles to contain herself and I find this whole moment very amusing.

We continue walking along and as we near the back of the store, Meghan speaks up, "Irwin, you must be donating blood, because you're exactly my type."

I laugh at her brilliant pick-up line but stop suddenly when I feel her fingers lace with mine. I look down at our hands then look up to see Meghan. She looks into my eyes then a small smile creeps up onto her face.

"Is this okay?" She asks quietly.

"Of course," I smile back as I pray that my cheeks aren't as bright pink as I think they are.

We continue to walk and hold hands as we keep looking. We finally stop in front of a large variety of butterscotch and look over all of the brands.

"There it is!" Meghan says after a few minutes of standing together holding hands. I see the large dark green bag filled with butterscotch morsels and hold it under my left arm so that I can still hold her hand.

There's something about her, I swear. I'm not entirely sure if I like her like that, but something about her makes me want to always be with her. I know it's unusual to think like this, considering we've only known each other for about two weeks. Not to mention the fact that our first encounter showcased me swearing like an idiot as I poured coffee onto her. Talk about a cringe-worthy moment. However, despite the circumstances of how we met, I can't stop thinking about her hand fits so perfectly into mine.

"If I had known that you would smile this much, I would've held your hand a while ago," Meghan smirks up at me.

"Oh yeah? Well, your cheeks are about as pink as the Energizer bunny," I poke her cheek as she laughs.

"You're such a loser," she giggles.

"Yet you're here with me pretty late on a Friday night at a restaurant supply store," I smirk.

"You've got a point," She squeezes my hand lightly, "So, now that we've found the fancy butterscotch, we just have to get the cart and pay for it all, right?"

"Shit," I groan.

"What?" Meghan asks with concern heavily lacing her tone.

"Where'd we leave the cart again?" I ask hesitantly as she widens her eyes.

"I have no idea," she bursts out in giggles. Honestly, if I wasn't here holding Meghan's hand, I wouldn't have found this funny.

However, here I stand at ten-twenty-two at the back of the damn restaurant supply store across town, holding hands with the only person I want to be around. As I watch her eyes crinkle as she giggles, I come to the conclusion that losing a shopping cart is the best thing I've ever done.